my favorite of the cycle (only if you're playing infect of course, but even if you're not it's automatically 1 card). others are furnace scampimpaler shrike and blind zealot
Names_Suck
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Overcosted imo. Plus infect really doesn't need discard. Marginally useful in limited but not playable beyond that.
I think they were goin for a infect version of Liliana's Specter, but came up a bit short.
If you are playing a pure infect deck, you wouldn't need this. Just kill him with the infect, why are you dilly-dallying with discard anyway? You cant even sac this in response to removal, since you'll need to do combat damage.
If you are playing a discard deck, there are better specters.
2/5
InternetNinjacy
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Not overcosted, it's evasive infect, in a well supported color, for only 3. It's practically a 2/1 flyer for 3 in black. That's pretty good. And the secondary ability is an, "In case of emergency, break glass" kind of ability.
majinara
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(6 votes)
Looks cute at first, but still sucks. A 1/1 flyer for 3 sucks, even if it got infect. And it's ability is pretty useless too. It would be best to sac it, when you can't deal any damage with him anymore. But since you can only sac it when it deals combat damage, that won't work. Also, it makes sense to sac it when your opponent got alot of poison counters. But when your opponent has a lot of poison counters, and you can keep hitting him with this infect creature, why would you sac it? It just doesn't make any sense.
Sironos
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Now we have black 2, 3, 4 and 5 drop infects with flying, nice (dunno what to call inkmoth in this context).
chinkeeyong
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
Don't think of it as an overcosted beater, think of it as an insanely undercosted discard spell. It's entirely possible to hit once with this guy on turn four and make your opponent drop his entire hand.
Polychromatic
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This should have been rare, with the standard specter ability.
Also, was I the only one who say the art for this and thought it would be Mirran?
blindthrall
★★☆☆☆ (2.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Counterintuitive. Blind Zealot is the best of the cycle.
metalevolence
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
I see little wrong with a 3-drop that demands an answer or blows up my opponent's hand.
RJ.693
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
I really love the artwork, which is rare for this set.
Saverok1786
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Wow, why is this card rated this low? This guy is a beast!
In my UB proliferate/infect deck this baby can go something like this:
T1: Swamp, whatever T2: Swamp, Trigon of Rage T3: Island, Whispering Specter T4: Pump it with Trigon of Rage, hit for 4 poison, sac it and opponent discards 4 cards. GG! And I still have a U mana open for Turn Aside in case my opponent goes for removal
If thats not a game ender I don't know what is....
Worldwalker1
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Apparently this guy was called "Infecter Specter" in design... and I love it just for that.
Kryptnyt
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(3 votes)
Ever feel like you can only hit with your pumped Plague Stinger once before it gets killed? Like Dark Ritual a lot? Want to play infect, but hands getting in the way? Well we have good news
This card isn't anywhere near as bad as some say, but it's definitely not the sexy choice, especially with Phyrexian Crusader the go to 3 drop. I run a mono black infect deck that runs a lot of hand disruption and when I connect with my Specter it usually empties the rest of their hand. In the right deck he can fly pretty high.
3.5/5
DeathDark
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Not that great for a specter.
Oh, wait, it's uncommon. Good show, then.
Kluuz
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
meh
DarthParallax
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Man, and I thought Kulrath Knight was the most Nazgul-y card in Magic. It's a specter. With Infect. This is going into every casual Lord of the Rings-themed deck I ever build. Nine-of autoinclude. And they gave us Grond in the same set?! 5/5.
Hayw00d0909
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I take it all back. I reviewed this a couple times thinking it was trash, but when I gave it a chance and started actually using it, I understand the power of strong discard spell in infect. THIS CARD IS SICK.
Justice1337
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I'm surprised this is rated so low. Sure, it might seem at cross purposes when the benefits of both the creature staying alive and saccing it to discard both increase the more poison counters the opponent has. However, keeping this alive when your opponent has something like 5 poison with the rationale, "I only have to get in 5 more times" shows a lot of inexperience with this game. Every card in your opponent's hand could possibly kill this anyway, or wipe your whole board, or otherwise put the game out of reach in any number of ways. A 5 for 1 is always a good trade, no matter how close your opponent is to death. In fact, this is such a threat that your opponent will most often be forced to kill it, even over your pumped up artifact infectoids, which are then free to win the game.
This is not a specter for people playing discard decks. This is not a threat used to put someone on a clock. It is a utility card, one available to Infect decks. A very strong utility card.
Attacking is not the only point of having creatures. Why should it be any different with Infect? If they printed a 2/1 specter at 1BB that said, sac this after it deals damage to make opponent discard X cards, X = (20 - life total)/2, it would be a Legacy staple. The same thing in infect gets downrated..... why?
Adallace
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You could Postmortem Lunge this. At least then it's sacrifice ability would be good.
TPmanW
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
4th turn in an infect deck you can likely use this to discard most of their hand. It's a ittle slower than most infect but that doesn't mean it's not workable (especially in edh).
CaptainNinJoe
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
I don't know if anyone noticed, but the Daily Deck List for Friday, October 28 is Mono-Black Infect. It made top 8 at StarCityGames. It had 4 of these mainboard.
This card is underrated. Sacrifice it after putting your opponent at 4-5 poison counters, and they'll only have a topdeck to answer your Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon.
Infect is good. Hand destruction is a good. Infect + Hand destruction is bad somehow? Not buying it. A 1/1 Infect Flier for 1B is on the curve, so you're paying B for the option to gut your opponent's hand. You don't need to hang five or six poison counters on someone to make the ability useful, even denying someone three cards can be an insurmountable loss of card advantage. 4/5
MagnaLynx21
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Deceptively powerful for mono black infect. Especially when your opponent discards a counter spell late game giving you the time to cast Phyrexian Crusader and throw Lashwrithe on it to win next turn.
wstonefi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
From the art, this thing looks a lot bigger than a 1/1...
Silence9
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
4.5/5. He really owns if you think about it. Lets hope you have a couple of poison counters going by turn 3, fly in swing for another counter, sac it, and there goes most likely the rest of their hand. Boom.
roguepariah
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Undying Evil to dump their hand and keep on swingin, with +1/+1 to boot.
Amaroq64
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Whispering Specter + Vampire's Bite. Make him take four infect damage, and discard a minimum of four cards, plus however much infect damage you've done to him already. Maybe use Undying Evil with his sacrifice to bring him back as a 2/2 after you make your opponent discard. Then every Proliferate you do will make him more powerful.
I have a black aggro flying infect deck that uses instants that give power. Infect creatures are weak for their cost, but you're paying for double unhealable damage to players and permanent damage to creatures that weakens them on top of it. This doubles the effective damage increase of all power-increasing cards. A Vampire's Bite is effectively a +6/+0 for one black mana when used on an infect creature dealing combat damage to a player.
T1 Virulent Wound killing their 1 drop. 1 poison. T2 Plague Stinger. 1 poison T3 This. Swing with Stinger. 2 poison. T4 Drop Liliana of the Veil. Swing both creatures and sac. 4 infect, 4 cards discarded. +1 Liliana. 5 cards discarded. Oh, there goes your hand for the rest of the game. GG
tlloyd
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Re FoxofEmbers:
Instead of Liliana, how about
T4: Hand of the Praetors. Swing with pumped PS and WS for an additional 4 poison counters (total of 6). Sac WS. Opponent discards his entire hand. T5: Opponent has 6 poison counters, likely no hand, and is facing a total of 5 infect power (2 in the air). Cast any infect creature or proliferate (maybe two on turn 5) to ratchet up the poison if necessary. GAME.
Comments (34)
I think they were goin for a infect version of Liliana's Specter, but came up a bit short.
Keep in mind Plague Stinger.
If you are playing a discard deck, there are better specters.
2/5
It just doesn't make any sense.
Also, was I the only one who say the art for this and thought it would be Mirran?
In my UB proliferate/infect deck this baby can go something like this:
T1: Swamp, whatever
T2: Swamp, Trigon of Rage
T3: Island, Whispering Specter
T4: Pump it with Trigon of Rage, hit for 4 poison, sac it and opponent discards 4 cards. GG! And I still have a U mana open for Turn Aside in case my opponent goes for removal
If thats not a game ender I don't know what is....
Like Dark Ritual a lot?
Want to play infect, but hands getting in the way?
Well we have good news
T1: Swamp, Your choice of discard spell
T2: Swamp, Plague Stinger
T3: Swamp, Whispering Specter
T4: Swamp, Lashwrithe, pay 4 life, swing for a potential full hand dump
This card isn't anywhere near as bad as some say, but it's definitely not the sexy choice, especially with Phyrexian Crusader the go to 3 drop. I run a mono black infect deck that runs a lot of hand disruption and when I connect with my Specter it usually empties the rest of their hand. In the right deck he can fly pretty high.
3.5/5
Oh, wait, it's uncommon. Good show, then.
This is going into every casual Lord of the Rings-themed deck I ever build. Nine-of autoinclude.
And they gave us Grond in the same set?!
5/5.
This is not a specter for people playing discard decks. This is not a threat used to put someone on a clock. It is a utility card, one available to Infect decks. A very strong utility card.
Attacking is not the only point of having creatures. Why should it be any different with Infect? If they printed a 2/1 specter at 1BB that said, sac this after it deals damage to make opponent discard X cards, X = (20 - life total)/2, it would be a Legacy staple. The same thing in infect gets downrated..... why?
This card is underrated. Sacrifice it after putting your opponent at 4-5 poison counters, and they'll only have a topdeck to answer your Skithiryx, the Blight Dragon.
I have a black aggro flying infect deck that uses instants that give power. Infect creatures are weak for their cost, but you're paying for double unhealable damage to players and permanent damage to creatures that weakens them on top of it. This doubles the effective damage increase of all power-increasing cards. A Vampire's Bite is effectively a +6/+0 for one black mana when used on an infect creature dealing combat damage to a player.
When I found out about Whispering Specter, I immediately bought a playable set online. This could be a useful hand-advantage card, along with Sign in Blood and Tezzeret's Gambit.
T2 Plague Stinger. 1 poison
T3 This. Swing with Stinger. 2 poison.
T4 Drop Liliana of the Veil. Swing both creatures and sac. 4 infect, 4 cards discarded. +1 Liliana. 5 cards discarded. Oh, there goes your hand for the rest of the game. GG
Instead of Liliana, how about
T4: Hand of the Praetors. Swing with pumped PS and WS for an additional 4 poison counters (total of 6). Sac WS. Opponent discards his entire hand.
T5: Opponent has 6 poison counters, likely no hand, and is facing a total of 5 infect power (2 in the air). Cast any infect creature or proliferate (maybe two on turn 5) to ratchet up the poison if necessary. GAME.